Day Off
by demoisellecamille
Summary: Chief Toph Beifong learns colors through her four year-old daughter Lin. [written to celebrate 10k views of my other fic, "Two Lines"] one shot.


**_A/N: _**_Hi guys! I wrote this to celebrate 10k views of my first fic, "Two Lines"! Here's some Toph and Lin mother-daughter moment for you! I really love this fic. It's so sweet._

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It could be said that Toph Beifong and the sun rose together. She couldn't even remember the last time she slept in - years of work as the Chief of Police required her to be up even at the most unholy hours, and she sort of grew into the habit over time. Although today was a Sunday, she rose from sleep just as dawn was cracking and the city - her city, now - was still quite asleep.

With her long, lustrous black hair still tousled from sleep, she stretched her arms and arched her back, grinning with every satisfying crack she heard. Holding out her hand towards her side, she smiled when she felt the familiar, gentle rise and fall of the covers, underneath which lay her most precious possession - whose face was currently hidden under a riot of big black curls. Toph silently creeped out of bed, careful not to disturb her daughter.

Still wearing an oversized tank top, she made her way to the window, opening it just a crack to let the chill breeze in. Taking a few deep breaths, she resumed stretching, warming up for the day's activities while running a list of things to do in her head: triad arrests (which could quickly end up bloody), budget proposals, staff training - she stopped mid-pose when she remembered all about Lin's homework.

Little Lin Beifong, who had just turned four years old a few days ago, was currently in preschool. Katara had insisted that Toph enroll her in daycare first, but Toph refused - she thought daycare was a waste of time; why pay for Lin to do something she can easily do all day with other kids? All they ever do in daycare was play, anyway. So Toph, much to Katara's consternation, enrolled her daughter in preschool, where she, at three years old, was the youngest.

Contrary to Katara's belief that she would have a hard time, Lin blossomed in preschool. The teacher agreed that even at a young age, Lin was a bright, clever girl with a good head for numbers, an ear for music, and an eye for the arts. It made Toph proud to hear all the positive feedback about her child, and she tried to encourage her daughter by playing to her interests at every chance she could get. She had a good head for numbers herself, and she quite readily helped her daughter do her maths; but what she worried about was Lin's grammar and reading - something she couldn't help Lin with, given her situation.

Feeling more awake now, she sauntered to the kitchen to make coffee. Almost a decade of being chief, and still she has no house to call her own. It wasn't that she had no funds, it was just that she preferred living so near to headquarters - the short distance allowed her to respond quickly to emergencies - and besides, she and Lin never needed much space. The two-bedroom apartment they occupied even seemed too big for both of them, especially now that she had it refurbished to fit their needs.

She filled the kettle with water and set it onto the stove. She felt around the cupboard for her pot of ground coffee and her coffee press. Contrary to what people think, Toph Beifong was as able-bodied at home as she was at work. Aang and Katara wanted her to stay at Air Temple Island with them, especially after Lin came, but she refused. Her parents even sent her a servant to help around, but she sent the girl back to Gaoling. Of course she wasn't totally alone - sometimes Katara would come over and do the cleaning and help with the laundry; sometimes too, when he had business in the city, Sokka would come and stay with her and Lin - during those times Toph needn't worry about dinner or housework.

But Sokka had gone to the Fire Nation, and Toph wasn't sure when he would be back. Admittedly, she missed his presence in her house. Lin seemed to feel the same way - the little girl has been constantly asking her mother when "Daddy" would come (apparently he taught Lin to call him that), to which the befuddled Toph would reply, "_No kid - Sokka's not your Dad._"

The beginnings of a whistle alerted her that the water was boiling. She quickly switched the stove off, dumped some coffee into the press, and added the boiling water. Toph let it steep for a while - she always wanted her coffee strong and bitter.

"Mommy?"

Toph turned her head in the general direction of her daughter and beckoned her to come. "Hey baby. What d'you want for breakfast?"

Lin climbed deftly onto the chair beside her mom. "No bending today," she said, yawning. Ever since Toph found out that Lin was an earthbender, she had been teaching the girl basic forms, and the child has proven to be an adept pupil.

"Yes, no bending," Toph nodded, pouring her coffee into a mug. "So - bacon and eggs, honey?"

"Pancakes!" Lin snapped, clapping her hands.

"You had pancakes yesterday, Lin."

"Pancakes, mommy!"

"Fine," she sighed. Lin was her mother's daughter through and through, right down to her stubbornness. Sokka often remarked that Lin had him around her little finger - like her mother, she could act amazingly sweet and docile (and helpless) if need be. People everywhere adored her kid - she was a regular fixture at the headquarters, where her wit and vivacity, very much like her mother's, earned her the pet name "little chief". Aang and Katara doted on her, and Toph was afraid that if she constantly left Lin in their company, the kid would end up spoiled rotten.

Lin was singing a familiar melody while her mother was whipping up pancake batter on the counter.

_"Leaves from the vine,_

_Falling so slow,_

_Like fragile tiny bells..."_

"That's _shells_, honey," she corrected.

"Shells?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded, placing a skillet on the stove. "Who taught you that song?"

"Uncle Hotman!" Lin piped. Toph grinned at the nickname her daughter just mentioned. "When we went to the sea, mommy. 'zumi was crying, and Uncle Hotman was singing."

There was a faint sizzle as the batter hit the surface of the pan. "That's nice! What else did Zuko teach you?"

"_Dragons_," Lin replied, trying to sound dark and foreboding. "Where's the pancake mommy?"

Toph sniffed at the pancake she was cooking, then flipped it over. "Almost done. What do you want - chocolate or honey?"

"I'll get it!" Lin screamed, climbing off of her chair. Toph heard kitchen drawers being pulled by clumsy little hands - she had no idea how Lin figured out that kitchen drawers, when opened in a certain way, could be used as stairs, but Toph had a feeling Sokka had something to do with it. She heard Lin clambering on them, reaching for the jar of honey that sat on top of the counter. "I want honey."

Toph put the cooked pancake on a plate and poured some more batter on the pan. Carefully, she lifted her daughter out of her makeshift stairs and put her back on the chair. "Stop doing that, Lin," she scolded, opening the jar of honey and handing it to Lin. "If you fall, you're gonna crack your head. If you crack your head, you'll die."

Lin put a finger inside the jar, scooping some honey out. "I'm Lin Beifong," she declared, sucking on her finger. "I'm four."

"So you are. But you're also my kid," Toph told her. "If you're gone, who will help me in the headquarters?"

Lin went quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, I was joking," Toph laughed. She set the plate of pancakes in front her daughter and scooped a dollop of honey from the jar. "Now eat up."

Mother and daughter sat eating in silence until Lin said, out of the blue, "You can't see colors, mommy?"

"No, darling."

She went back to her pancakes, as if considering what her mother just said. "Yesterday teacher taught us about colors."

Toph didn't even look up from her coffee. "That's good."

Lin scooted closer to her. "I will teach you colors, mommy."

Toph smiled, wondering how her child will teach color to her blind mother. "I can't see, badgermole."

"You can touch!" Lin replied positively, once again climbing out of her chair. Toph heard her walk over to the ice box, where Lin rummaged for a moment. She walked back to her mother with a shard of ice in her hand. "Hand, mommy," she told her.

Toph obediently held out her hand, gasping in surprise as the ice made contact with the sensitive skin of her palm. "This is ice, Lin."

"Blue," Lin said simply. "Blue is cold, mommy. Blue is cool water and ice." She snatched the ice from her mother's hand and hurled it into the sink, making an oddly satisfying crunch as it hit the metal.

"Blue..." Toph whispered.

"Yes, mommy." Lin tugged on her arm, signalling her to get up. Toph followed, still intrigued, as Lin led her to the window. "Open the window?"

She opened the window; the sun was higher up on the horizon now, and whatever chill there was, it was gradually being replaced by warmth. Toph allowed her daughter to guide her hand out the window, where a ray of soft morning sunlight kissed her skin.

"Yellow is warmth," Lin said. "It's the light of the sun." She reached out and plucked a sprig from the potted mint plant they kept out on the windowsill, rubbing it against her hand and holding it out against her mother's nose.

Toph liked the smell of mint, which is why she asked Sokka to get her a potted plant to take care of. "This is mint, Linny," she smiled.

"That's green!" Lin happily declared. "Green is also tea, and tall trees and plants, mommy." She took her mother's hand once more and placed it on the soil in the pot.

Toph grinned when she felt her hand touch the earth, excited to hear what color it was.

"Earth is brown."

"Earth is brown," she echoed. It was wonderful to hear her element - their element - being described by a word other than "dirt", or "ground". They stood there for a while, Toph and Lin Beifong, mother and daughter with messy hair and rumpled clothes, laughing and running their hands through the soil in a pot.

"Let's go back to the table, kid," Toph said after a while. "Wash your hands."

Lin was giggling as her mother led her back to the kitchen. Toph metalbent the tap, allowing cool water to rush down. She carried Lin, stooping down to allow her daughter to wash her hands. "Blue," Toph whispered. "Wash your hands well badgermole - I'll know if there's still earth in there."

With Lin all cleaned up, Toph washed her hands as well and went back to her coffee, cringing as she downed the cold liquid that remained in her mug. Lin's laughter echoed throughout the apartment. "Haha, very funny. You done with your pancakes?"

"Yeah," Lin replied, clanging her fork against the porcelain.

"Run along," she said, reaching for Lin's plate. "Let me tidy up and then we'll decide where we'll go today."

Lin hopped out of her chair. "Can we go visit Ten-ten?"

"You're always with Tenzin! Let him miss you," Toph chided.

Lin tugged insistently on her mother's tank top. "Please?"

"You know what? I think when you grow up, you'll marry Tenzin and have babies with him," she jested, ginning at her daughter. "You like Tenzin, don't you?"

Lin slapped her mother's leg. Hard. "Ew no! Oogies!"

Toph was laughing so hard as her daughter ran out of the kitchen, no doubt to make a mess in the bedroom. As she put her mug and Lin's dish on the sink, she heard the child stomping back into the kitchen. "Well?"

"I forgot something," Lin muttered. She walked over to her mother and slapped Toph's bare leg again.

"What was that for?!"

"That's red, mommy!" She declared triumphantly.


End file.
